Today, the Utah state legislature “dealt a final blow” to the last of five gay rights bills taken up under the Common Ground Initiative, when it defeated a bill that would have granted gay couples rights of inheritance and medical decision-making. Yesterday, the state House rejected bills that would have allowed gay adoption and protected gays from housing and employment discrimination.

Last night, Utah’s local ABC station received leaked portions of an interview with state senator Chris Buttars (R), which will be highlighted in an upcoming documentary on Proposition 8. Buttars is an outspoken opponent of gay rights; in the latest interview, he compares gays to alcoholics and Muslim terrorists, and warns that gay people are “probably the greatest threat to America.” Some excerpts from the interview:

– To me, homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts! But I don’t care.

— They say, I’m born that way. There’s some truth to that, in that some people are born with an attraction to alcohol.

— They’re mean! They want to talk about being nice — they’re the meanest buggers I ever seen. It’s just like the Moslems. Moslems are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side. And the gays are totally taken over by the radical side.

— I believe that you will destroy the foundation of American society, because I believe the cornerstone of it is a man and a woman, the family. … And I believe that they’re, internally, they’re probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of. Yep, the radical gay movement.

Listen here:

Buttars bragged that he “killed” every piece of gay rights legislation in Utah, and said that President Bush — “like him or love him” — “saved” America “for the foreseeable future” by appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court.

Buttars discussed how the Mormon church would never give in on gay rights. Indeed, Mormons contributed nearly 40 percent of the more than $40 million raised to defeat marriage equality in California. He helped kick out Gay Straight Alliance clubs in Utah schools, claiming they were “criminal” and threatening that gay people’s “greatest target is your kids.”

Transcript:

I believe in the Constitution being something that was inspired of God. And the way these people are destroying the Constitution is by saying the Constitution is a living document. That means it’s subject to change. But truth don’t change. It does not change, and I won’t accept any of that.

So they say marriage is between a man and a woman and that’s changed. Look around, look at all these combinations. Combinations that are abominations, as far as I’m concerned. To me, homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts! But I don’t care.

[…]

They say, I’m born that way. There’s some truth to that, in that some people are born with an attraction to alcohol. One drink and you’re gone.

[…]

Their number one goal is just to proselyte youth. That’s why I threw them out of the schools, I said it’s not a friendship club, that’s a recruiting station.

[…]

They’re mean! They want to talk about being nice — they’re the meanest buggers I ever seen. It’s just like the Moslems. Moslems are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side. And the gays are totally taken over by the radical side. You don’t see the gay out there saying, Let’s not do this. Let’s not do this, gang. You seem ‘em marching around with signs and everything else.

[…]

I believe the whole thing is immoral. And I believe you’re moving towards — you see, if you say to me, quit shoving your morals down my throat, Butters, my answer back is you know my morals, what’s yours? What is the morals of a gay person? You can’t answer that. Because anything goes! So now you’re moving towards a society that has no morals. There’s never been a nation survived that’s done that.

[…]

I believe that you will destroy the foundation of American society, because I believe the cornerstone of it is a man and a woman, the family. In my mind, it’s the beginning of the end. Oh it’s worse than that. Sure, Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide. You can’t tell me that something that was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah’s not going on wholesale right now, and to a large degree by [? unintelligible] the gay community. … The underbelly is they do not want equality, they want superiority. … They say we want to be treated just equal. They don’t. And I believe that they’re internally they’re probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of. Yep, the radical gay movement.

UPDATE

Buttars responded on an unofficial state senate blog to say he was “disappointed” that the interview was leaked. “I believe traditional marriage is the foundation of our civilization and I’ll continue to support public policy that strengthens traditional marriage. I will also continue to oppose policy that undermines that foundation,” he wrote.